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Old January 19, 2012, 07:02 AM   #6
BlueTrain
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 26, 2005
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 6,141
Interesting subject. First off, I have read that some places have a rather high standard for passing the test to get your carry permit, a standard that includes shooting at a distance that one would be highly unlikely to ever be shooting at as a private citizen. Something to think about. You could always have a test that is hard to pass.

Point shooting is and has always been controversial. In fact, I'd say that not everyone means the same thing when they use the expression. I'm probably repeating the same thing I've said in other threads, too, by the way. Serious proponents of point shooting have generally been experienced law enforcement and military people, too, by the way, not professional competitors or trainers. That's also something to think about. Obviously they seemed to have lived in a different world but they also did not believe in point shooting to the exclusion of any other technique or for that matter, use of the handgun over other weapons.

Point shooting is not exactly unaimed shooting for one thing and it was expected that the sights would be used beyond a certain range, although it might be more correct to say "uncertain" range, since not everything got recorded in books. For a private citizen, however, it can be a little easier to understand if you take a tape measure and go around your house and measure distances. The measurements inside your house are likely to be short; the same distances outside your house are nothing. Now, I will admit that it's hard to take those facts you've just created with your tape measure and apply them to your training. But you may wonder why you're doing any shooting at 25 yards. That's the distance from my sliding glass basement door to where the path goes into the woods. There are still good reasons to practice at 25 yards, just the same and I will go on record as claiming that you can do tolerably well point shooting at 25 yards, rapid fire. At least with one revolver I had you could. But that isn't how you'd shoot if you were trying to hit those little sihoulettes of animals on a paper target, meaning the ones you were aiming at. That calls for steadier shooting.

Confusing, isn't it? But keep in mind that those who used to advocate (their version of) point shooting were working with men and a few women who were not firearms enthusiasts or even at all previously familiar with guns and only had a limited time for training before they hit the streets or the battlefield. It was a real world solution. For them, what they did was "good enough."

I also agree that safety has to be of the highest priority. It is pointless to risk shooting yourself or your buddy to avoid being shot yourself.
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